The Ripple Effect in Building Her Career

Shanna Huber is one of the lucky ones. As a little girl she dreamed of owning  a business. She and her best friend would talk about what sort of designer store they would open as adults.

Shanna did not imagine the design would come in its current form, however.  It took bold career moves, advanced education and multiple degrees, an empathetic nature, supportive family, personal determination…and that dream she had as a kid…for her to open up Ripple Life Care Planning in Dublin, Ohio, last December.

Getting there was not a direct shot. Like most careers, the path to self-­employment was winding, challenging and eye-opening. The first realization came after high school when she found the job market for young entrepreneurs, which she and her friend wanted to be, less than welcoming. She needed classes in management and marketing and business, none of which interested her. She thought again about her second love -­- taking care of people -­- and decided to pursue nursing.   Challenging work and courses ensued.

The work first came in a hospital setting. With small babies of her own to care for, Shanna was pleased to be offered the flexibility she sought. As a floating nurse, she got the schedule and variety of casework she desired.

“I worked all over the hospital, and because nurses were in high demand in the early 2000s, I could tell them where and when I needed to work and usually get the assignment I wanted,” she says.

Her nine+ years in the hospital provided vast experience in key specialties -­- rehabilitation, pediatrics, cardiology, orthopedics, neurology, and palliative care. She saw and worked with trauma patients – victims of car accidents, drunk driving, gun shots, stabbings and drug and alcohol withdrawal -­- the kind of catastrophic experience she would need years later in private practice.

But changes came again as her family grew. Shanna decided school nursing would mesh better with her family life and schedules. In less than two years she had the necessary bachelor’s degree and began a new venture at Columbus City Schools in Columbus, Ohio. It was a high poverty area, which brought with it severely sick students, and for nurse Shanna additional assignments of parent adviser, teacher adviser and caregiving planner.

“I loved being a school nurse, but it was intense,” Shanna says. “I saw neglected and abused kids. One year I worked with six diabetics, some on dialysis. I had to teach them and their parents and caregivers about diet and nutrition. Several were not compliant.” Severe health problems were endemic.

“I worked with a cancer patient; children suffering seizures; refugee students with emotional challenges and medications to figure out. I had to keep the teachers informed, draft action plans for them to follow, and follow up myself to see things got done.”

After six years and a move from elementary to middle school, a more experienced yet exhausted Shanna reexamined her goals one more time.

Equipped with appropriate certifications she had acquired along the way, she decided to try out case management but keep her day job. Working with two other nurses and a social worker, she juggled cases around the school schedule, fitting them in during summers, on holidays and weekends.

“I liked it,” she said.

CHALLENGING CAREER PATH LEADS TO GOING IT ON HER OWN

But as school nursing continued to take its toll and double-­‐duty workloads brought on new strain, Shanna thought again about what she’d like to do with her life. She decided to leave school nursing and make a business for herself.

“Life care planning morphed naturally from case management and the nursing experiences I had had,” she said, and she put up her shingle 10 months ago.

But why the name “Ripple” Life Care Planning?
 
“Ripple Effects Images is my favorite charity,” she explains. “It’s a team of journalists who report on what women are doing in third world countries to better their communities.”

Working closely with scientists and NGOs to identify both the needs and innovative programs that are helping women and girls, Ripple Effect journalists make strategic trips to document these programs. And Shanna has decided to join them on an upcoming venture.

This November she’ll be teaching Ethiopian women about hygiene, mutilation, the threat of kidnapping -­- as well as teaching Ethiopian men the consequences thereof.

On a cheerier note, but a task no less difficult, she and the other volunteers plan to purchase cows and make cheese as an avenue to independence and self-­support for the African women.

MARKETING -­ COLD  CALLS,  EDUCATION

As Shanna knows from personal experience, it’s not easy being self-­supporting. As a sole proprietor she faces new challenges such as marketing and other aspects of business. The need for these skills goes in fits and starts.

“When business surges I let the marketing go,” she explains, “when business slows, I pick up the marketing. This includes cold-calling and educational programming.”

Shanna has found that good marketing entails education. This month she will join with an accounting friend and a law firm to offer a continuing legal education (CLE) course for attorneys in designing special needs trusts.


RIPPLING  THROUGH  IARP  -­  CONNECTIONS,  EDUCATION
 
Her own continuing education often comes through IARP, which she joined after college on the recommendation of a teacher. Today she ranks IARP’s nonstop discussion groups (formerly “list serve”) as one of the best values of membership.

“The opinions in the discussion groups answer all kinds of life care planning concerns,” she says. “The information supplements the advice I receive from the mentors I talk to on the phone.” She applauds the IARP San Diego meeting last year because of the community of high-­level people and strong connections she made.

“I also find the Journal of Life Care Planning valuable. The Symposium is helpful. You get to see what others are doing in your field. ‘Majority statements’ from the Life Care Planning Summit are really helpful and important.”


DAILY EXPECTATIONS ARE HIGH, DIVERSE

What she most looks forward to in her new career as business owner?

“Everything,” she says. “I like coming in each day and seeing what it’s going to be. I make lists but don’t always follow them. Things come up that interrupt and change my plans.”

The flexibility in her schedule harkens back to her early nursing career, as does her office situation, which provides professional help on an as­‐needed basis.

Shanna rents space in a Dublin entrepreneurial center with 150 other business owners. And she has employed some for short periods of time.

“I’ve found professionals to help do things I don’t do – create my website and logo, handle bookkeeping and payroll, provide sales tips.

“An added benefit is the community here -­- familiar faces all around. I can walk down to another office, say hello and be welcome.”


ADVICE: LOOK FOR A MENTOR, STUDY HARD, HAVE PATIENCE

Her words of advice to those just entering the field or wishing to change career direction? In bullet points:

• Get educated and find a mentor you can call up and talk to easily. Conferences are invaluable. Go to at least one a year and get connected. Meet people who will support you.
• Have some patience. Just like after nursing school, you can’t be good at the job immediately. You have to work at it.
• Learn from the best, someone who has the best reputation. Look far and wide because local people and relationships may not be your best mentors because of the competition factor. Look for mentors that you don’t have to compete with.”

In other words, make some waves in your career and watch for the ripple effect -­‐-­‐ ways to receive, ways to give forward and opportunities to grow.